Feeding the Spirit

15 September, 2014

Cooking and Coding is a course created by volunteer and UC Santa Cruz student Sara Shimel for low-income students at Mission Hill Middle School, which teaches students how to cook low-budget healthy meals, and then code a food blog that reflects their learning experiences in the kitchen.

Sara grew up in poverty and occasional homelessness, but with true grit, she made it to UC Santa Cruz where she is now a senior while raising her teenage brother. Wanting to give back, in gratitude for the help she has received along her own remarkable journey, Sara has created a program with seed money from Bread for the Journey to offer 15+ low-income Mission Hill Middle School students a ten week course creating hands-on technology projects. From personal experience, Sara knows that kids in poverty need practical skills that help them deal with current issues such as food scarcity and creating low-budget, nutritious meals. BFJSCC gave a grant for $1,000 to Sara to launch her new program.